Anna Netrebko

ANNA NETREBKO Russian Album 4776151

. . . soprano Anna Netrebko here sings a glorious selection of her native Russian music . . . Looking like a believable romantic beauty doesn't hurt; nor does having the voice of a dirty angel. How a slip of a girl produces such a rich sound is a mystery, but the mix of sensuality and purity is delicious.

Record Review /
Peter Culshaw,
Observer (London) / 15. October 2006

Her repertoire brings every part of her creative personality alive and the results blaze with intensity. The voice is as lustrous, full-bodied and dark-hued as ever but with extra flashes of steel and silver -- perfect for cutting through the colourful orchestrations of Rimsky-Korsakov in arias from The Tsar's Bride and The Snow Maiden. She brings ecstatic pathos to an aria from Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, and is dazzling in Tatyana's Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin. With perfect idiomatic support from Gergiev, it shows Netrebko at the height of her powers.

Record Review /
Warwick Thompson,
Metro / 30. October 2006

The programme of Russian arias and three orchestrated songs has integrity and will introduce more cautious fans to some ravishing repertoire . . .

Record Review /
David Nice,
BBC Music Magazine (London) / 01. November 2006

. . . her latest record confirms her stature as a genuine and serious artist . . . [the arias & songs] suit Netrebko¿s bright-edged Slavonic soprano to perfection. The radiant top register is the glory of this voice, compensating for a lack of colour in the lower notes that robs her singing of variety, and she is an idiomatic interpreter . . . Her timbre combines girlishness and dramatic power, whetting the appetite for her Tatyana. Gergiev¿s accompaniments are first-rate.

Record Review /
Hugh Canning,
The Times (London) / 19. November 2006

. . . Anna Netrebko is on incandescent form in this disc of relatively unfamiliar Russian arias. Interestingly, it also shows her in a new light. While previous discs have highlighted her range, her technique and, of course, her rich and glorious voice, this collection of songs and operatic arias demonstrates a quite different level of identification with her material, and the results have a core of inevitability and intensity about them that I haven't heard from her before. Here is scalp tingling beauty, a striking ease and naturalness of vocal production, and a sheer moment -to-moment excitement that it would be hard to imagine a non-native soprano producing. She brings everything to life . . . Valery Gergiev's conducting of his Mariinsky Orchestra wraps around her sound like a cashmere shawl . . . This is, undoubtedly, my disc of the year.

She is young, with real presence in the theatre, and with a voice that seems to know no fear . . . Francesca's aria "O weep not, my Paolo" from Rachmaninov's "Francesca da Rimini" is opulent and beautifully sung by Netrebko. As Antonida in her Act 1 Cavatina and Rondo from Glinka's "A Life for the Tsar" she lightens the voice to considerable effect. This is indeed a young woman waiting by the river for her man to return . . . that makes Netrebko such an exciting singer in the theatre. Too often she slips into dreamy reveries. There's fine soft singing in Rachmaninov's song "Sing not to me, beautiful maiden" and a melting tone in Marfa's Act 4 scene and aria from Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Tsar's Bride" . . . [Gergiev] is a generous collaborator. The perky little waltz that dances its way through Natasha's visit encounter with Anatol in "War and Peace" is as sweetly ironic as Prokofiev would have wanted.

Record Review /
Christopher Cook,
International Record Review (London) / 01. December 2006

HEAR: "The Russian Album" by sexy soprano Anna Netrebko . . . Think of her as the Anna Kournikova of classical music ¿ only with talent.

Record Review /
Newsweek / 14. January 2007

Netrebko may be a gorgeous media star, but the 35-year-old Russian soprano is also an inspired, immediately captivating vocal artist . . . This album, by far her best yet, showcases Netrebko in her native repertoire, and the Russian material boasts melodies to rival any Italian collection . . . Netrebko benefits from ideal partners . . . It's only January, but this disc will end up one of the year's best.

Record Review /
Star Ledger (Newark) / 16. January 2007

Netrebko reveals the beauty of Russian opera . . . deeply personal . . . Her "Russian Album" is a collection of some of the most beautiful songs and arias from the Russian repertoire. In addition to the wonderful melodies, the orchestrations are incredibly rich and well suited to the virtuoso forces of the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre.

Record Review /
Julie Amacher,
Minnesota Public Radio / 17. January 2007

Soprano Anna Netrebko gleams in this anthology of Russian music. Beautifully supported by conductor Valery Gergiev and his Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, Netrebko deploys her formidable technique across a spectrum of tender musical emotions. The CD opens with a murmurous song by Tchaikovsky and two gems by Rachmaninoff. The Rimsky-Korsakov section finds Netrebko balancing playfulness and poignancy in "The Snow Maiden" and spinning out a long, verdant line in "The Czar's Bride." She builds a sweet sense of anticipation as a bride-to-be in Glinka's "A Life for the Czar" and joins tenor Dmitry Voropaev, mezzo Zlata Bulycheva and bass Alexandr Morozov in an extract from Prokofiev's "War and Peace." With the Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin," Netrebko crafts an eloquent exposition of introspection and passion.

Soprano Anna Netrebko gleams in this anthology of Russian music. Beautifully supported by conductor Valery Gergiev and his Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, Netrebko deploys her formidable technique across a spectrum of tender musical emotions.

Anna¿s voice is now ideally suited to the songs and soprano arias of her homeland . . . My favourite track at the moment . . . is an arrangement by Michael Rot of Rachmaninov¿s Song Op. 21, No. 7 . . . I¿m in spine-chilling heaven throughout the two-and-a-half minutes of this ecstatically beautiful piece.

Record Review /
John Brunning,
Classic FM (London) / 01. March 2007

The lovely Anna Netrebko remains a glamorous singer, pure of voice, with always-musical phrasing and some exquisitely high soft singing. Particularly fine are a little-known Tchaikovsky Romance with castanets, bassoon, and piccolo adding color; the vivid, Italianate selection from Glinka's "A Life for the Tsar"; two lyrical Rachmaninov songs (here scored for orchestra); and the Letter Scene from "Eugene Onegin", which is delivered with the drama of a true singing actress . . . it's great to have this Russian repertoire sung so beautifully on CD.

Record Review /
Robert Levine,
Amazon.com / 01. March 2007

. . . I for one was captivated by her lovely portrayal of Elvira and if one needed any further proof that Anna Netrebko is a sensationally talented vocalist, I would offer her "Russian Album" as Exhibit A . . . This is haunting vocalism -- perfectly so in her "War and Peace" aria. Natasha is a role she has made her own: a star-making portrayal she has performed around the world and which served for her official Metropolitan Opera debut . . . Netrebko is delightful in Glinka's intricate and lively Cavatina and Rondo, with sparkling coloratura. Glinka's music is unaccountably neglected, and what a case Netrebko makes for him! The Rachmaninoff songs are lovely, and the "Snow Maiden" aria makes one long for the performance and complete recording promised in the accompanying literature. The Letter Scene is brilliant, among the finest on records . . . Gergiev proves equal to Stokowski in that repertoire, and his conducting on the entire album goes beyond idiomatic to exciting, vital, and flawless -- Netrebko's artistic collaborator in every sense of the word. This is beautiful, largely unfamiliar repertoire sung to perfection. DG's engineers have ideally conveyed her not-easily-captured, rich, full-bodied spinto soprano. Truly one of the top vocal releases of recent times, this is a must.

Record Review /
James Camner,
Fanfare (Tenafly, NJ) / 01. May 2007

. . . Anna Netrebko is a sensationally talented vocalist, I would offer her ¿Russian Album¿ as Exhibit A. (I can only imagine if these were scratchy shellac records -- if they bore the name, say Medea Mei-Figner or Antonia Neshdanova -- how record collectors would go wild for them.) This is haunting vocalism -- perfectly so in her ¿War and Peace¿ aria. Natasha is a role she has made her own . . . Netrebko is delightful in Glinka¿s intricate and lively Cavatina and Rondo, with sparkling coloratura. Glinka¿s music is unaccountably neglected, and what a case Netrebko makes for him! The Rachmaninoff songs are lovely, and the ¿Snow Maiden¿ aria makes one long for the performance and complete recording promised in the accompanying literature. The Letter Scene is brilliant, among the finest on the records . . . Gergiev proves equal to Stokowski in that repertoire, and his conducting on the entire Album goes beyond idiomatic to exiciting, vital and flawless -- Netrebko¿s artistic collaborator in every sense of the word. This is beautiful, largely unfamiliar repertoire sung to perfection. DG¿s engineers have ideally conveyed her not-easily-captured, rich, full-bodied spinto soprano. Truly one of the top vocal releases of recent times, this is a must.

Record Review /
James Camner,
Fanfare (Tenafly, NJ) / 01. May 2007

. . . threadiness of timbre is normal for young coloratura sopranos, and falls off on its own in time. It has. What has emerged from that vocal cocoon is a voice of firm, radiant tone, laser-like focus and considerable expressive range . . . In her Russian Album, with Gergiev leading the Orchestra of the Mariinski Theatre, ideal musical partners in this repertoire, she engages. There isn't a slack moment. This music is mother's milk for Netrebko, and her investment in every note of it is unstinting. The frame is Tchaikovsky, whose music begins and ends the CD and breaks for his exquisite "Romance" (Op. 38, No. 6) midway. The opening Arioso from Iolanta, the story of a young woman awakened from blindness by love, is heart-wrenching in its limpid beauty. The finale, Tatyana's Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin, emerges a probing exploration of the young heroine's disillusion and heartbreak. I've heard only great Tatyanas live, but Netrebko, who has yet to sing the part onstage, erases memories of all of them. Her word-centered delivery of the scene is complemented by the rhythmic freedom and perfectly gauged sense of coloration and weighting of the text throughout the CD. It steers clear of sensationalism going to the searing heart of Tatyana's drama. Similarly, in the rapturous, doomed sensuality of the excerpt from Rachmaninov's Francesca da Rimini, she unleashes soaring passions without a hint of oversinging. The second of the composer's two orchestrated songs, Op. 4, No. 4, my single favorite track, is rendered with almost unbearable tenderness. Four selections from operas by Rimsky-Korsakov, which Gergiev has worked tirelessly to restore to the respect they deserve, find her creating complete characterizations in the span of five minutes or less.

. . . many of the tracks here have a cool, matter-of-fact quality mixed with an ache of sadness. So when the music calls for an emotional outburst, as in Rachmaninoff's "Ne poy, krasavitsa, prim ne" or "Onegin's" letter scene, Netrebko's emotion seems even greater, more thrilling. Thrilling, too, is Valery Gergiev's command of the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater.